Hi all,
I've not had the pleasure of doing one of these threads before but having finally begun the process and with an air of excitement, I thought I would start one.
My current digs are simply tiny- I have a 180g sat in there at the moment and it's more aquarium than flat. The current occupants of that tank are happy but i felt that in order to take things to the next stage I wanted a larger place that could house a larger tank.
Fast forward and I placed the deposit on my new place yesterday which is a huge step in the right direction. With the place secured, I have switched my attentions to the next phase; a house for the fish.
I had wanted a good sized tank for a while, mostly motivated by what i had seen on here but the key issue was always space. With the new place, i have been able to realise my ambition to have a custom tank made to suit, specifically a 84"x36"x24". Reasons for this size was that I will be placing a second tank beside it of similar dimensions for a smaller species community, probably 48x24x24 or even 36x36x24 which may look better but more on this in a bit.
Things I have already found is that to get the tank in, I'm going to need to remove a window so Im waiting for the glazier to get back to me with a quote. The other, more pressing issue is a stand. Having looked at various designs on here, I am going to go ahead and build my own, most likely a ladder design with a total height of the stand at 24". My ultimate goal is to place the second tank next to the larger one, linking them together so that they are filtered and heated together. If I could get my copy of Sketchup to work, I'd of done a drawing of how i want it, but I cant for the moment.
Filtration is the next big thing. I currently run an FX5 but was thinking of adding a sump or some form of bio expansion chamber in-line to aide with the added load as well as an extra FX5 to boost overall filtration. Again, I'll try and knock a plan together to give people an idea. Failing that, two FX5's should... in theory... be enough!
So, thats the plan as things stand. I'm working on stocking as well, but that's very very exciting, so i couldn't possibly share.
I know it's not the biggest tank, but for a mere mortal, it's going to be an adventure.
I've not had the pleasure of doing one of these threads before but having finally begun the process and with an air of excitement, I thought I would start one.
My current digs are simply tiny- I have a 180g sat in there at the moment and it's more aquarium than flat. The current occupants of that tank are happy but i felt that in order to take things to the next stage I wanted a larger place that could house a larger tank.
Fast forward and I placed the deposit on my new place yesterday which is a huge step in the right direction. With the place secured, I have switched my attentions to the next phase; a house for the fish.
I had wanted a good sized tank for a while, mostly motivated by what i had seen on here but the key issue was always space. With the new place, i have been able to realise my ambition to have a custom tank made to suit, specifically a 84"x36"x24". Reasons for this size was that I will be placing a second tank beside it of similar dimensions for a smaller species community, probably 48x24x24 or even 36x36x24 which may look better but more on this in a bit.
Things I have already found is that to get the tank in, I'm going to need to remove a window so Im waiting for the glazier to get back to me with a quote. The other, more pressing issue is a stand. Having looked at various designs on here, I am going to go ahead and build my own, most likely a ladder design with a total height of the stand at 24". My ultimate goal is to place the second tank next to the larger one, linking them together so that they are filtered and heated together. If I could get my copy of Sketchup to work, I'd of done a drawing of how i want it, but I cant for the moment.
Filtration is the next big thing. I currently run an FX5 but was thinking of adding a sump or some form of bio expansion chamber in-line to aide with the added load as well as an extra FX5 to boost overall filtration. Again, I'll try and knock a plan together to give people an idea. Failing that, two FX5's should... in theory... be enough!
So, thats the plan as things stand. I'm working on stocking as well, but that's very very exciting, so i couldn't possibly share.
I know it's not the biggest tank, but for a mere mortal, it's going to be an adventure.
